Hillbilly Elegy
From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, this book is a probing look at the struggles of America's white working class through the author's own story of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town. Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis - that of poor, white Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for over forty years, has been reported with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside.
Stats for nerds
16recommend
56mentions
51people
2016–2026years
36% recommend59% neutral5% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Hillbilly Elegy. Really, really good book.
- Shameful, embarrassing and disturbing is putting it lightly in my opinion.
The thing that is sad for me is I just feel like I don't have an iota of anything in common with people that could possibly support this kind of behavior. For so long I've been struggling to empathize with Trump supporters. I certainly understand the anger at the Democrats and Democratic leadership (I often share that anger myself). I understand the anger at the direction of the slow societal breakdown I've seen in many parts of the country (and which, ironically, I feel that Vance elucidated very well in Hillbilly Elegy). I understand many of the policy differences.
But it's what I see as the complete moral baselessness and behavior I can only describe as narcissistically bizarre that I just fundamentally can not understand. So often I hear myself saying "Imagine how any other politician would have reacted 20 years ago". And now it's like so many people are OK with stuff like this (never mind that insane Gaza video from just yesterday...)
I simply cannot understand it. And to be honest, I'm not sure I want to understand it, beyond seeing the whole Trump movement through the lens of something like a cult. I just have never been so ashamed of my country in my life.
- 1. We are guilty by association. 2. When a guy makes a choice to join up with a terrorist organization he will bring that guilt home with him. It will affect those around him.
We may be free to choose but we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions. Even when they affect the innocent we associate with. If this is a new thought to you read a few more books.
Here are some suggestions... The Holy Bible Hillbilly Elegy The Narnia Series The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings
- This was written in 2019. There is another thread, but this is my first time reading. So I understand;
- Milk prices are going down due to a decrease in the cost of production + overproduction.
- Farmland availability is decreasing because CAFOs are incentivized (required?) to buy more land. Property value is also decreasing for farmers near CAFOs.
- Small farmers operate on decreasing margins.
- Small farmers lack protection against rising overhead costs, this was historically done through co-ops, however these co-ops have grown to be massive conglomerates and fail to serve the underlying communities.
- CAFOs are the leading pollutants of water sources. They are also the leading consumers of ground water.
- There has been a dramatic decrease in the number of small farming operations.
Bad economic policies lead to public health and cultural crises. I can't help but draw some parallels to what has been happening in the Rust Belt (Hillbilly Elegy is a great read for this topic). It's insane how little I know about food economics and scary how much of an impact it has on communities, especially impoverished ones.
- Everyone has their own set of values - I don't judge your decisions at all in this case.
However, to give some perspective, I grew up in a rural/suburban "flyover" town. There are parts of my childhood that I would love my own children to have - running outdoors, opportunities to try things without committing to the (sure, I'll sign up for the baseball team and see what happens), etc
But what I realize that I missed was the knowledge of how big the world was. I thought going to the local state college was "making it." I didn't understand how the world worked or what was possible. I missed out on opportunities because I didn't realize that I should be looking for them.
A great book on the subject is Hillbilly Elegy. It tracks closely with my own experiences (though I can say that I am fortunate to not have some of the challenges that the author faced).
Based on my experiences, I have chosen to expose my children to the wide world of opportunities out there. Yes, I am terrified of the stress and anxiety that might accompany that, but I am also confident that it is what would set them up to be successful in this global society
- Enjoyed the below:
The Beginning of Infinity - David Deutsch
Dear Friend, From My Life I Write To You in Your Life - Yiyun Li
Hillbilly Elegy - JD Vance
Inadequate Equilibria - Eliezer Yudkowsky
The Neapolitan Novels - Elena Ferrante
Mating In Captivity - Esther Perel
Our Mathematical Universe - Max Tegmark
Radical Candor - Kim Scott
Scale - Geoffrey West
The Seventh Day - Yu Hua
Somebody with a Little Hammer - Mary Gaitskill
Stubborn Attachments - Tyler Cowen (ebook)
What Do You Care What Other People Think? - Richard Feynman
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